По выходным мы часто ходим в гости к бабушке.

По выходным means on weekends in the sense of a repeated habit.

Here по is used with the dative case, and выходным is the dative plural form. This pattern is very common for repeated times:

• по утрам — in the mornings
• по вечерам — in the evenings
• по субботам — on Saturdays
• по выходным — on weekends

A useful way to think about it is that Russian often uses по + dative plural for something that happens regularly at certain times.

Also, выходным comes from выходной, which originally means day off / weekend day. In this phrase, the noun дням is understood but not said: essentially по выходным (дням).

Because this sentence describes a habitual, repeated action, not one specific trip happening right now.

• ходить = to go on a regular basis / to go repeatedly / to go in general
• идти = to be going right now in one direction

So:

• По выходным мы часто ходим к бабушке = We often go to grandma’s on weekends.
• Сейчас мы идём к бабушке = We are going to grandma’s now.

In your sentence, the words по выходным and часто clearly suggest repetition, so ходим is the correct choice.

This is one of the biggest questions English speakers have.

Russian has two different verbs where English just has to go:

• идти — going in one direction, one trip, happening now or as a specific movement
• ходить — going habitually, repeatedly, or there-and-back; also the general ability/activity of going on foot

Compare:

• Я иду в магазин. — I’m going to the store.
• Я часто хожу в магазин. — I often go to the store.

In your sentence, the idea is we do this often on weekends, so Russian uses ходим.

В гости means to visit someone / over as guests / to someone’s place.

It is a fixed expression. Literally, гости is the plural form of guest, but in this phrase you should treat в гости as an idiom.

Common examples:

• идти в гости — to go visit someone
• ходить в гости — to visit people / go over to people’s homes
• пригласить в гости — to invite someone over

So in your sentence, ходим в гости к бабушке means we often go to grandma’s place as visitors.

Because the preposition к always takes the dative case.

So:

• бабушка → nominative
• к бабушке → dative

The preposition к means to / toward a person or place, especially when going to someone.

Examples:

• к маме — to mom
• к другу — to a friend
• к врачу — to the doctor

So в гости к бабушке literally means to visit to grandma, but naturally it means to go visit grandma / go to grandma’s place.

They do slightly different jobs:

• в гости tells you the type of action: going as a guest / on a visit
• к бабушке tells you to whom: to grandma

So together:

• ходим в гости к бабушке = we go visit grandma / we go over to grandma’s

If you remove one part, the meaning changes:

• Мы часто ходим к бабушке. — We often go to grandma’s.
  This is fine and natural, but it does not emphasize the idea of visiting as guests as strongly.
• Мы часто ходим в гости. — We often go visiting / visit people.
  This does not say whom you visit.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and часто can move around, but each position gives a slightly different emphasis.

The neutral version is:

• По выходным мы часто ходим в гости к бабушке.

You could also hear:

• Мы часто по выходным ходим в гости к бабушке.
• Мы ходим в гости к бабушке часто, по выходным.
  This sounds less neutral and more shaped by context.

Russian word order is influenced by what is already known and what is being emphasized. In a textbook-style neutral sentence, the original order is very natural.

Yes, на выходных is common in modern spoken Russian, and it also means on the weekend / on weekends, depending on context.

But there is a difference in feel:

• по выходным = regularly, on weekends, as a habit
• на выходных = on the weekend / over the weekend; often more colloquial and sometimes more about a specific weekend or weekend period

Since your sentence describes a repeated habit, по выходным is especially appropriate.

Yes, it could.

Because the verb form ходим already shows we, Russian often drops the subject pronoun when it is clear:

• По выходным часто ходим в гости к бабушке.

That is grammatically possible, especially in conversation. However, keeping мы is perfectly natural too, especially if you want to emphasize we or make the sentence clearer for learners.

Russian uses subject pronouns less often than English does.

Бабушка usually feels more like grandma than the formal English word grandmother.

It is the normal everyday word people use for their grandmother. If you translate it as grandma, that often matches the tone better.

Russian can also use affectionate forms such as:

• бабуля
• бабушка
• бабуся in some contexts or regions

But бабушка is the standard, common word.

That is just how the fixed expression works in Russian.

The phrase в гости uses the plural form гости, even when you are going to visit just one person. English speakers often expect a singular idea, but Russian idiomatically says в гости.

So you say:

• идти в гости к другу
• ехать в гости к родителям
• пригласить в гости сестру

Even though the host may be one person, the expression stays в гости.

Historically, ходить is a verb of motion on foot, so yes, that idea is built into the verb system.

However, in sentences like this, learners should focus mainly on the motion contrast:

• ходить = repeated/general going
• идти = going now in one direction

In real life, people sometimes use these verbs a bit broadly, especially in everyday speech, but the core grammatical contrast is still the important one here.

If you specifically wanted a general repeated sense with transport, you might use:

• ездить — to go regularly by transport

For example:

• По выходным мы часто ездим к бабушке. — We often go to grandma’s on weekends, typically by vehicle.

So ходим most naturally suggests going on foot, but in this sentence the main reason for choosing it is the habitual meaning.

A lot is happening in a short sentence:

1. по выходным

   • по + dative plural
   • expresses a repeated time pattern: on weekends

2. мы ходим

   • present tense of ходить
   • used for habitual/repeated motion

3. часто

   • adverb meaning often

4. в гости

   • fixed expression meaning to visit / over as guests

5. к бабушке

   • к + dative
   • shows the person you are going to

So this is a very useful model sentence for learning:

• repeated time expressions
• motion verbs
• a common visiting idiom
• dative after к and по